


I Know, Brother

by J_Wolfe



Category: Cougar Town
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friends to Lovers, Love Triangles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Wolfe/pseuds/J_Wolfe
Summary: Have y'all seen this show? There's mega homoerotic energy between these two. So, I did a re-write of a chunk of the first season focusing on their relationship, ultimately culminating in them getting together.
Relationships: Bobby Cobb/Grayson Ellis
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Ever since that first day on the golf course, Grayson couldn’t get Bobby’s voice out of his head.  _ Man, you smell nice. _ It rang over and over, playing across the feeling of the other man’s arms around him and his constant playful smirk. And, good lord, all the nicknames: G-Man, G-String, G-Money, and the more obscure in-the-moment ones. Despite Grayson’s protests, he rather enjoyed the amiable closeness they brought. It was nice, just like it was nice of Jules to push him to make friends. But Grayson was fine wallowing in his lonely playboy antics after his wife left him. He had his house, his bar, and a constant flow of young women through his bedroom. And all this meant he had no desire to further integrate himself into the so-called Cul-de-Sac Crew.

* * *

So much for that. Grayson couldn’t help but get sucked in. He and Bobby had become constant golf buddies, playing 3 or 4 times a week, and betting on the game at least once a week. Thankfully they tended to win, otherwise Grayson would’ve sunk a lot of money down the drain based on this new friendship. Bobby seemed to be having a grand old time, making the most out of any situation he could make some cash off of. And then there was Jules. She was so aggressive about him joining the Crew that he eventually wore down to the point he was doing them favors without even being asked. Which was how he found himself here, listening in on Jules’ and Travis’ conversation and offering to watch the kid while she went away for the weekend for her birthday. It was a relatively empty offer though, seeing as the kid was almost 18 and he didn’t even want the old man checking in on him if there the house was burning.

* * *

But then Andy got in his head. The cubano was right after all. If Jules found out Grayson let a girl in the house with Travis, she’d definitely hold it against him (and potentially kill him). So he kicked the kid’s girl out, but now the whole night was spiralling out of control. The kid was actually  _ coming out to him _ . What was he supposed to do about that? He had no clue what to say. Should he have been compassionate, said something about how he thought he might be bi? That wasn’t going to end well.

“Ah, god,” Travis sighed into his hands. “I don’t know. What the hell? Am I some kind of freak?”

“No - no you’re not a freak, okay?” the older man reassured, breaking down finally. “Sexuality is - it’s confusing.” Travis scoffed in exasperation at the platitude. “Look, if it makes you feel better, one time, at my cousin Ben’s lake house we were talking about kissing girls. We were, I don’t know 8… maybe 12.” A part of him couldn’t believe he was admitting this, but he just figured he’d power through. “Anyway, he had - he had long hair, kinda like a girl. We, um, practiced kissing… on each other. One time.”

“With your cousin Ben?” the teen asked in a serious, almost accusatory tone. Grayson sighed an affirmative and Travis tilted his head back, one eyebrow raised as he smirked. “That is interesting information.”

* * *

Wow, the kid was good. Grayson was not living this down. He’d been extorted for $50 and Travis had still told Andy. And if Andy knew then Bobby knew and Ellie knew, which meant Jules knew. So everybody knew he kissed his boy cousin. Great. It didn’t exactly have him in the mood to give thanks. Jules had invited him at the bar, but he’d screwed the pooch on that offer. There was no way he was begging.

There was a knock on the door and he got up from his couch to go see who it was. “Hey, G-Man,” Bobby greeted warmly. “You comin’ to Thanksgiving tomorrow?”

Grayson sighed. “Jules said I’d have to beg for an invite. So no, I’m not going.”

“Pssh, that’s crazy talk. All you gotta do is go over there and say ‘Can I come over for Thanksgiving?’ and she’ll let you. Come on,” the blond took the other man by the arm and began pulling him out of his own home. Grayson protested lightly at first as he dropped his magazine on the side table by the entrance and shut the door, but then he followed along willingly.

Jules and Ellie assaulted him with knowing grins and questions as soon as he walked in. Grayson immediately turned to leave with a shrug of, “I can’t do this.”

But Bobby put a hand on his arm and stopped him, his eyes bright like an excited and pleading puppy. “Come on, G-string. Think of how much fun we’re gonna have. Drinking beer. Drinking wine when all the beer runs out.”

“Come on, Grayson,” Jules chimed in, and now they were double-teaming him. “You must be great at saying things you don’t mean to women. Like, ‘I’ll call you’ or ‘I’ve never done this before either.’”

“Fine,” he relinquished and then mumbled the question he thought he’d been too proud for, “May I come over for Thanksgiving?”

Jules answered with a hug that was so tight it was almost painful and he had to fight every self-isolating urge within himself to unclench like Bobby said so she’d let go.

* * *

After they’d all had a few beers, Bobby, Grayson, and Andy all headed over to the park behind Grayson’s house for a basketball game with the neighborhood kids. As soon as they got there, Bobby shed his shirt - which was possibly why Grayson was so distracted and they were losing pretty heavily. The blond man kept suggesting the men play skins, which Andy obviously obliged for brief periods, though Grayson couldn’t bring himself to be shirtless in front of an equally shirtless Bobby out in the light of day. They wound up winning, one of the kids slightly spraining her ankle.

Right as Grayson walked back into Jules’ house after showering off the sweat from the game and changing back into his regular clothes, Ellie was finishing up assaulting Bobby for his life choices. As he greeted them she shifted her focus to the bartender, chastising him for bringing home an endless train of young women to bed and then walking away. A little shocked, he flopped down on the couch with his side pressed neatly into the other man. “What just happened?”

They sat in silence for a few beats until Bobby finally piped up. “I’m not proud that sometimes I hook up with women for food.”

Grayson nodded in understanding and added his own. “It’s not my fault every 24 year old on the planet has a daddy complex and thinks my name is exotic.”

Bobby sighed, introspective and somber despite his usual disposition. “Still we both know it’s not forever.” Grayson hastily agreed. “Someday I’m gonna find me a real woman, someone who looks after me,” he daydreamed.

“Yeah and someone that helps get me out of my shell,” Grayson tacked on to the imaginary dream woman.

“I don’t wanna end up alone.”

“That would kill me.”

“Oh woah!” Bobby laughed in sudden realization. “‘Gettin deep’ alert!” He slapped the other man on the knee with a chuckle, calling attention to the growing intimacy of their conversation. Grayson gave an overly dramatic shudder to dispel the awkward tension between them.

“Permission to speak?” Andy said, still dejectedly standing across the room after letting Bobby’s high cholesterol secret slip just minutes before.

The two men on the couch shared a conspiratorial look. Grayson nodded and Bobby waved as if to open the floor, “Proceed.”

“Do you think the woman you’re looking for is even out there?”

Just at that moment, Jules went walking past them, going upstairs to talk to Trav. They both tracked her with their eyes, their thoughts obvious in their lingering gaze. “Definitely,” Grayson hummed, right along with Bobby’s “Yeah.” The two shared another deep and suddenly comprehending gaze with one another as Andy turned away, clutching his chest due to the heartburn from the newfound secret.

They sat in awkward silence for a couple minutes - scooting slowly away from one another as if it could reduce their discomfort - before Jules came tromping down the stairs and flopped down between them, lamenting the “worst sex talk ever” that she had just engaged in with her and Bobby’s son. She leaned back and forth on the men’s shoulders for comfort. “Can you think of anything more uncomfortable,” she began, slapping both men’s thighs for emphasis, “than what I just put Travis through?”

They both grunted out that they could imagine something worse, before Bobby quickly spurted out at the other man, “Let’s go play some hoops. You wanna play some hoops?” Grayson hurriedly agreed and they both practically bolted up off the couch and out of the house. They walked quickly and silently to the basketball court, not even changing into their sports attire. The neighborhood kids were already there, though, and they were pointing out just how weirdly violent the men were being with each other.

They insisted on playing anyway though. Their scuffle intensified to the point where Bobby actually hit the other man in the face with some force. It was in that moment that Grayson, an honestly shocked expression on his face, balled up his fist, struck Bobby with a solid punch, and turned around to start back toward his house, fuming. The blond was staggered by the blow and stumbled backward, regaining his vision only to see the retreating backside of his friend and romantic opponent.

Grayson was a good 30 feet ahead of him, already opening the gate on his back fence when Bobby started jogging to catch up with him, calling out a snipped, “Hey!” He got to the gate before the other man could close it on him and pushed through, tackling the bartender and sending them rolling across the small area of grass in the backyard as the gate swung shut behind them.

“Bobby,” Grayson started angrily at the man on top of him, but then he saw the split lip and faint bruise already blooming from where he’d punched the target of his anger. His expression softened slightly and he was about to try apologizing, but Bobby’s blue eyes were locked on his and piercing him with something knowing. Bobby pushed their lips together, silencing whatever weak regret was about to spill out.

He reciprocated the kiss and the two of them began to grope and roll about, fuelled by a passion born of both anger and lust. They wrestled there, half fighting, for some time before the anger slipped back into focus and Grayson shoved the other man away, standing quickly. “Stop. What are we doing?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just got up and strode out of the yard, through the house and over to Jules’.

He got a bag of frozen vegetables out of the fridge to press against his face, but handed that first bag to Bobby who had come in just behind him. He pulled out another bag for himself and they walked into the living room.

“Got a little intense out there, huh?” Bobby noted, his tone a bit playful in contrast to Grayson’s shameful recollection of the childish brawl and tumble they had just had.

“At one point I straight punched you in the face.” 

Jules walked by behind them chastising them to not get blood in her frozen corn before they ate it. The men both let their eyes linger on her before turning back to one another.

“Man, this is dicey. Should we just try to hash it out?” Bobby had an almost soft and concerned look on his face. It was more contemplative than the other man was used to.

“Probably. But then again, you know, it feels like we’d be talking about something way in the future, you know, like  _ years _ .” Grayson didn’t think he was ready to deal with this whole thing - whether that meant Jules or Bobby at this point he wasn’t sure - and he would’ve bet that Bobby didn’t want to really confront it right now either.

The blond man nodded along. “Yeah, who knows how we’ll feel by then? Hell, one of us may even be dead,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, and with your cholesterol…”

“Oh yeah, it’ll be me,” Bobby realized with a disappointed glance to the side.

Grayson nodded sympathetically, then refocused and gave his suggestion. “Look, I say we act like men and we bury it under a mountain of denial so deep that no one can make us believe it ever actually happened.”

“Already done! Free and breezy,” he gestured to his head with a lackadaisical motion and set his signature goofy grin back in place. “Want a beer?”


	2. Chapter 2

Grayson wasn’t sure what brought him to Bobby’s boat that morning. It had only been a couple weeks since the Thanksgiving incident. But he didn’t want to be alone with his own thoughts this morning and he figured the other man could use a cup of coffee, so there he was. They were chatting lightly, mostly just the blond chattering nonsense. After a somewhat bitter retort to one of Bobby’s out-loud-thoughts, he winced at himself.

“Woah, a little pricklier than usual Graystoke,” Bobby mentioned, though he didn’t seem too offended. “But you’re still lookin’ good. Handsome.” The stream-of-consciousness divergence was clear in his speech pattern. “God was not multitasking when he made you. No, he wasn’t building mountains and making chickens and whatnot. He was focused.” His eyes penetrated Grayson’s soul, even as the other man’s expression only lightened from deeply bitter to just on the frustrated side of amusement.

“How did we get here?” he asked with a grim smirk masking his faint blush.

“I dunno,” Bobby shrugged, leaning forward into the other man’s space. “Why are you so down?”

“I have something on my mind, and I don’t want to talk about it.” He attempted a grin to sate his friend and looked off over the back of the boat at the beach. Bobby rambled on about some hillbilly buddy of his who had attached a chainsaw to a rifle and how cool the whole thing was. After a few more minutes of that, Grayson decided he couldn’t stay here with Bobby without breaking down, so he excused himself to go have some alone time.

* * *

But as it turned out, you cannot escape Bobby Cobb when he cares. He showed up at Grayson’s door, barging in immediately after ringing the doorbell, invading the other man’s space, and letting him know he wasn’t gonna give up on getting the bartender to come clean about what was bugging him. Of course, a bunch of neighborhood dogs ran in and ruined the moment. Because Grayson was cursed to never know peace.

After wrangling all the dogs out of the house, Bobby plopped back down on the couch right next to him and stared at his face. Grayson pointedly ignored the other man and kept on reading his paper. They both went on in silence for probably 15 minutes before Bobby had had enough. “Alright, come on,” he stood up and pulled Grayson out of his own house and across the street to Andy and Ellie’s.

That wound up not serving to prove much more of a point about opening up though, since only Bobby and Andy actually shared anything and everybody knew those two had little to no shame about being open books.

* * *

While getting ready to open the bar the next morning, Bobby stopped by unannounced again. Grayson was exasperated at that point, and he may have said some things a little more harshly than he meant to. Then the blond went ahead and guilt-tripped him, knowing exactly what he was doing. But to the bartender’s annoyance, it worked.

He spent the whole day focusing on his work at Gray’s Pub. It wound up being about the most productive day of work he’d ever had, despite the fact he was still feeling guilty about Bobby in the background the whole time.

So, after he closed down, he drove over to Bobby’s boat. The whole thing was decked out in Christmas decorations and it looked ridiculous but also like a real home.

“Hey man,” he greeted as he climbed the ladder up to the boat. “Is this a bad time?”

“Yeah. I’m doing something important,” Bobby said with a grave expression as he reclined in his lawn chair, a beer in hand. Grayson was a bit taken aback after how forward and lighthearted the blond was usually. But after a beat, Bobby gave a good laugh showing he was just messing around.

“That was a good one,” Grayson smiled as he came over the side onto the boat.

Bobby gestured to the other lawn chair on the small deck so his guest would take a seat. “What’s shakin?” he asked with that casual tone he had.

Grayson finally caved. “My ex-wife had her baby.” It was like a weight was suddenly lifted off his shoulders and simultaneously he was covered by the heavy, wet blanket of despair he’d been attempting to keep at bay for days.

“Boy or girl?” Bobby kept the conversation on the facts, even though they both knew the depths of what they were talking about. He had a deeper understanding than people gave him credit for.

“Boy. She named him Tristan,” Grayson scoffed.

“You really wanted kids didn’t ya?” Now they were steering more to the heart of things.

“More than anything,” he admitted, leaning forward, his shoulders slouched so his chest folded inward.

“That is really heavy stuff...” After a moment, he huffed a laugh and caught the other man’s eye as he said, “Honestly I’m a little uncomfortable right now.” He tilted his head, asking the question without words.

Grayson smiled an almost uncharacteristic smile in response. “Me too.”

“Still glad you told me though,” he grinned in that dumb little way of his.

“I actually wanted to talk about it the whole time.”

“I know, brother!” He seemed all too proud of himself, but he deserved it. “Want a beer?”

“I want a thousand beers.”

They shat on the name Tristain some more then sat in silence for a while, taking sips of beer and looking out at the bonfires and last moments of sunset across the beach. They continued for a while until they had both had two beers, but that was the last of what Bobby had on his boat.

“So, uh, I guess it’s late. I should probably head out.” Grayson stood up and headed to the ladder.

“Oh, yeah, good call. You gotta do your bar thing in the mornin’ and I gotta hit the golf course and try to pick up some more lessons.”

They both waved goodbye and Grayson headed to his car. He felt like he had come here to decompress and had only just begun to accomplish it. He looked in the back seat of his sedan as he opened the door, noticing the two bottles of scotch he had bought that morning.

He found himself holding the bottles and walking back to the boat before he even realized what he was doing. Bobby was still sitting in the exact same spot as he came up the ladder, proffering the two bottles of liquor with a smirk. “Look what I found.”

“Hell yeah, G-Money!” Bobby grinned, sitting forward and reaching across the boat to help Grayson come over the edge with the precious cargo. They each took a bottle and began sipping. Bobby started talking about how his dad had made sure to have his first drink together and it had been scotch, which prompted Grayson to open up about his dad some. They rambled on about their youth: the sports they played, the girls they dated, their lives in general.

At one point - about halfway through their bottles - it devolved into a sort of truth dare. Bobby dared Grayson to toss one of the pennies from his coin jar into the empty coffee can across the boat deck, and that wound up being the only thing they were betting on as they continued chatting.

By the time they were almost done with the bottles, it was easily 3 AM. The air was chilly and they were both sloshed. Grayson shivered. “This is nice, but I’m damn near freezing.”

“Ha, yeah. I got sleepin’ bags in the cabin. I’ll grab it for ya.” Bobby stood and stumbled down the steps into the main part of the boat. It was as if they were actually at sea the way he swayed from side to side.

The other man followed after him, protesting. “I can get it, Bobby. You’ve done enough for me tonight.” As he came through the door, he smacked his head on the frame, recoiling slightly in pain.

Bobby let out a small huff of a laugh, turning around before reaching the bed area where the sleeping bags rested. “You okay there big guy? Gotta watch the low ceiling.” He braced Grayson by the shoulder and ran his hand across the other man’s forehead to check for blood, squinting to investigate the damage in the low light of night.

Grayson blinked away the pain to find Bobby’s face intimately close to his own. It was happening again, and when the pair of blue eyes met his, he knew that they were both entirely aware of what was between them. “Bobby,” he breathed as a sort of admission and warning. He didn’t want to deal with this, they had both agreed to bury it under a mountain of denial. This was just because they were drunk.

Bobby shushed him softly. “Come here,” he said, pulling Grayson to the bed at the far end of the cabin. But they didn’t kiss, they hardly touched once they had lain down and Bobby pulled the open sleeping bags over them. It was a strange silence, both comfortable and awkward. Thankfully for Grayson, the alcohol in his blood didn’t let him think too hard on it and he passed out not long after. And if they woke up tangled up together in the morning, their sober minds could always lock that away under Mt. Denial with everything else.

* * *

It’d been a few weeks since Grayson stayed on the boat and neither of them had brought it up. Life had returned more or less to normal. Jules had started seeing some new guy; not a young hot thing this time, but an actual adult man.

Grayson was tending his bar when Laurie came in with a power suit on, though she explained it was for some meeting at a bank that Jules was making her go to for her. Just as he was greeting her, Bobby walked in with a nice suit on as well. “Woah-ho!” the bartender let out. “You in a suit? What is going on?” Bobby did a little show off dance, popping the suit jacket as if it were suspenders and Grayson felt a tingle of heat in the back of his mind. He let out a string of contradictions as something to fill the time as he got them beers. “Black is white. Yin is yang. Hot is cold. DeVito is tall. John is Kate. Seriously,” he finished as he set the beers in front of his two most mooching friends, “if you pay for this, my heart might stop.”

“You’re safe,” Bobby promised as he took the stein. “My new girlfriend bought this for me.” As he said it, Grayson’s face faltered just slightly and Bobby averted his gaze, talking about his new sugar mama. This was fine. It had to be. They buried everything under Mt. Denial. There was nothing more to it.

* * *

Later that day, after he had helped Laurie with a crash course on politics so she could go to some fancy party with Smith, Ellie stopped by the bar to bug Grayson. Of course, their conversation circled around Jules and Bobby, the former thinking the latter was being used by Dr. Amy. Grayson knew Bobby didn’t mind being used - the boat-dweller called it “getting sponsored.” Although, after bringing up how he just gave Bobby his old fish tank for free, he was beginning to wonder if Bobby was using him. It only served to increase his bitterness about Bobby seeing the doctor, though he held bottled that emotion up as best he could and shoved it back down in the deep pit he used to store his emotions.


	3. Chapter 3

“Good one, Grayhound!” Bobby whistled as the other man sank the penny in the empty coffee can sitting down in the parking lot. He had invited Trav and Grayson over to try out the game, which he had now fully fleshed out. The rules were simple: if the penny goes in the can, you get a point; if it doesn’t, you don’t.  _ Chess-like _ , Grayson had mocked when it was first explained. Andy couldn’t believe the game that Bobby had mentioned to him a few weeks prior was finally a reality.

Jeff was at the boat for the game’s debut too. Everyone thought he was a pretty cool guy so the others didn’t mind his presence. Jules’ new boyfriend had become a pretty standard member of the Crew at this point. When Saturday morning rolled around and Jules invited everyone to brunch, Jeff joined her and Grayson on the couch to jam out some lyrics to “Girl, Don’t Hold That Against Me.” When Bobby introduced the beer-OJ combo, Jeff volunteered to go make some for everybody.

“I like that guy. Great vocals,” Grayson noted as Jules’ new boy-toy walked out of earshot.

“Yeah, and those shoulders,” Bobby added, perhaps a bit lustily. “He’s definitely built a few sheds.” Grayson hummed in agreement.

“Mmm, and he’d look great in a skirt,” Jules tacked on, biting her lip. She turned back to the men on the couch with her to find quizzical looks from both of them in response. “Oh, I’m glad you guys like him. Because we are actually getting,” she paused to look at the man in question, “kinda serious.”

“So he’s not just a date-of-the-week guy? He’s serious?” Bobby questioned, the concern recognizable to Grayson’s sympathetic ear.

Jules was still looking at the man in the kitchen with a soft, caring expression as she confirmed it. “Yeah, he is.”

Both men on the couch with her said quick and probably overly enthusiastic congratulations for her. Saturday brunch continued somewhat awkwardly, Andy and Ellie joining them a bit later. The awkward straw that broke the pining camels’ backs was the moment when, despite everyone else in the kitchen watching, Jules and Jeff had a cute couple moment kissing on the couch. Bobby and Grayson both promptly and simultaneously peaced-out. They headed over to Gray’s Pub and started to commiserate. Grayson noted how it maybe wasn’t the most comfortable for the two of them to talk this out, given their mutual attraction to Jules - not to mention what was buried under the mountain. But Bobby carried on anyway.

Laurie barged in not long after they started talking, in a foul mood since Smith headed back to law school and she was misconstruing it as if he had dumped her. Grayson tried to be rational with her, but decided better of it, saying she could bartend to distract herself while he and Bobby talked. Bobby refilled his stein and walked off to a table.

“Did he just steal that?” Laurie laughed as she pointed out the blond man’s blatant theft.

Grayson looked after the other man fondly. “Yeah, that’s sort of his thing. Stealing. From me.”

He joined Bobby at the table, but it wasn’t long before Laurie bailed out to have revenge sex and Grayson had to get one of his servers to cover the bar and Trav to go keep Laurie from hooking up with Smith’s friend.

He and Bobby spent hours talking about their failed marriages. Of course, that led to more abstract relationship talk. There was a mutual understanding between them - a shared sense of loneliness and regret over losing love. They were having the kind of conversation that men had with their close friends over a beer during hard times, but it meant more than that and they both knew it. Whenever the conversation veered too close to their mutually forgotten encounters, they would speak more vaguely and steer back to their marriages.

When the bar closed down, Bobby went to his boat and Grayson went home, both of them alone.

* * *

With two six-packs in hand, Grayson showed up at the boat the next morning. He stowed the beers in Bobby’s cooler and came back up to the deck. The blond was tossing pennies off the boat as Andy ran around with the coffee can catching them. “This morning I looked at some old pictures of Vivian and me. From back when we were happy.”

“That sounds healthy,” Bobby mocked.

“Sometimes I still think back and try to figure out how it all fell apart. I guess the simplest reason is we just wanted different things.” After all, it was his wanting kids and her refusal that started the argument that ultimately led to their separation.

“It’s hard to give up that ideal life,” Bobby agreed. “I mean, I still dream of finding a wife and settling back down, maybe having another kid. It’s hard to find that kind of lady living on a boat, but I can’t help but think relationships that don’t look like they’re headed that way for me are gonna fail.” He gave the other man a meaningful look.

Grayson got the message, and he felt the spark of hope he’d been holding onto for this thing with Bobby snuffed out. He turned the topic back to the end of relationships and eventually he took off to open up his bar.

* * *

Laurie walked into the bar casually later that night. “Hey. I wanted to thank you for looking out for me yesterday. I mean, I’m still bummed, but-”

Grayson cut her off. “I just spent the last 24 hours rehashing the dissolution of my marriage, so if it’s okay, I’m all out of relationship talk.”

She looked surprised, but not offended, “Oh, yeah, it’s okay. I just wanted to say thank you,” she said with sincere gratitude as she turned to walk away.

Her blonde hair and ignorant-but-well-meaning demeanor reminded him of the man he’d spent the last day and a half pouring his soul out to. “I didn’t say leave,” he pleaded. They sat and talked until he closed up, and then they wound up back at his house, chatting and a little tipsy. He may’ve been taking advantage of her loneliness to sate his own, but he figured neither of them really cared. In the end, it was just sex.

* * *

Of course, once Andy let loose Grayson’s attraction to Jules the next morning, Grayson’s blonde one-night-stand turned on him. The peeping-tom had seen them through the window the night before and then just let himself in to confront them afterward.

Since then, Laurie had been so torn up about this whole “someday-person” thing between him and Jules that it was really digging into his psyche. Because Jules wasn’t his only someday-person, and Laurie was a perfectly fine replacement for his other one.

Then the one-night-stand turned into a two-night-stand and things only continued to spiral out of control. Bobby came into the bar and told him that he’d hooked up with Jules. And he just had to grin and bear it. He was admittedly overly bitter as they continued to chat, and harsh with Jules on the phone when she called about the new song idea for “Sex with an Ex” (which was a great idea for a song, but he wasn’t gonna admit that). Eventually he put his moping on hold long enough to bury the secret of his screw up sleeping with Laurie by bribing the neighborhood Cuban.

* * *

Bobby was on a real high that morning. He brought the boat over to Jules’ house since they were repaving the parking lot he usually parked it in. He figured they might be mending fences. Like there may have been a second chance for them to reignite what he had screwed up before. But after Trav gave a remarkably confusing hypothetical that Jules said meant he lost his virginity, Bobby came clean about his feelings and he knew things were headed downhill.

Jules came out to the boat after a while and sat with her ex-husband. She had that look on her face that told him no good was going to come of this conversation. “Bobby, you are such an amazing person. You know I love you, but not in that way anymore.”

“Wow, you’re not pulling any punches,” Bobby sighed.

“I just wanna be really clear, for both our sakes. Honey, I’m sorry, but we’re just never gonna end up back together.” She gave a few more platitudes as Bobby tried to keep his composure, but they both knew it was over.

When she left, he called Grayson, but the other man didn’t pick up. He supposed that was what he got for putting down the man’s hopes the other morning. He called his buddy with a truck to come help him move the boat to another abandoned lot. It was a long, lonely night.


	4. Chapter 4

Grayson had been avoiding Bobby’s calls for the last four days. He felt pretty guilty about it, knowing how awful the other man must be feeling after hearing how Jules had completely shut down any hope for the two of them. But Bobby wouldn’t be avoided. He was now sitting in the corner of Gray’s Pub, just in time for Andy to come in frantically searching him out. Apparently Jules had sent the Cuban man to console Bobby, and Grayson decided it was time to bite the bullet and console the blond as well.

Unsurprisingly, Bobby immediately propositioned the bartender to “loan” him three kegs for a boat party that night. When Grayson suggested they just get some six-packs instead, he was met with quite a display of “keg-pumpin banter.”

“You want me to keep pumpin?” Bobby sexily asked Andy, who was acting like a bimbo they might expect to be at the party. Grayson found himself exceptionally turned on, and after a bit more of the three amigos conversing, he was convinced to bring the kegs.

* * *

The parking lot booze cruise turned into a full on rager and Grayson found himself waking up in Bobby’s bed for the second time. Although, this time Bobby was at the table instead of curled up next to him.

They all felt a bit hungover that day, but that didn’t prevent them from going out on the town the following night. They got pretty wasted again, so none of them could completely remember what happened. But Andy had a vague recollection of the two men grinding up on each other at the club. There were no photos in his camera roll to verify it though. And why would those two get as dirty as they had in his mind. It was probably just a projection of his insecurity at Bobby making a new good ( _ not best _ ) friend. They met again early the next morning at the bar for a bit of the hair of the dog that bit them.

“Remember when you were in your twenties and you could drink all night and still feel good enough in the morning to write a love letter to your girlfriend?” Grayson waxed with nostalgia as he looked at Bobby’s gently smiling face. He was met with some judgmental glances from Bobby and Andy both, and defended himself. “I was a different person in college.”

“You know what we should do tonight? Good old fashioned beer parade,” Bobby smiled, prodding his friends to join in on his wild party bender. Grayson shook his head as Andy agreed and the blond took his beer and headed out. It would be reasonable to assume that the man hadn’t been wholly sober since the night he moved his boat off Jules’ driveway.

Once Bobby was out the door, Grayson leaned on the counter in front of Andy. “So you’re just gonna hold his hand while he hits rock bottom?” he inquired of the man’s best friend. Andy was incredulous. “You know how hard we partied the last two nights? Well Bobby has done that for the last  _ six days _ . Look, I think that Bobby’s, uh, he’s in real trouble.” They shared a somber moment considering their friend’s downward slide.

* * *

Later that day, Andy stopped by the house, trying to get Grayson to come with him to try and talk Bobby out of this bender he was in. But the pining bartender couldn’t oblige, sending Andy to do it by himself.

Andy greeted his best bud as he boarded the boat. Bobby showed off his new “invention,” the sangria hat and they chatted inanely for a while.Eventually, Bobby drove things to the heart of the matter, as he was prone to do. ”So, why’d you really come over?”

“I have to lay some hard truth on you, but I, uh, I don’t think I can do it,” he admitted, trying not to look the other man in the eyes.

“Sure you can,” Bobby reassured him, already knowing what his friend came to say. “And I need to hear it.”

“Alright, listen Bobby,” Andy turned to him. “You’re the life of the party and-- and everybody loves that about you.”

“Good start, ease in with the positive.”

“But lately…” he trailed off, losing focus looking at the blue eyes in front of him.

“You’re gettin lost in my eyes. Look away.”

Andy turned and continued with more gusto, just trying to get through with it. “But lately you’re taking it too far and if you don’t stop with this bender then I’m going to have to stop looking up to you and that’s gonna  _ suck _ for me.” They both paused for a moment to let the meaning sink in. “I know the Jules thing was a real kick in the stones, but… You’ll get past it. Just not like this though. You’re better than this.”

This time there was a long pause, an extended commiseration. Bobby grimaced, “It hurts pretty bad, buddy.” Andy patted him on the shoulder and they started on lighter topics, even taking a trip down the boardwalk to get a caricature of the two of them. It was a calm and positive moment, a better distraction than the partying.

* * *

Later that night, after Andy had gone home to his wife, Bobby called Grayson from the bed on his boat. He was sobering up, but he still had enough liquid courage in him to be unabashed in what he was about to say.

Grayson was sitting on his couch watching “I Am Legend” when his phone started buzzing. The caller ID told him who it was. It seemed a bit late for another party, but he supposed he wouldn’t be surprised if Andy failed to bring the bender to an end. Maybe it was his turn to try. He picked up before the fourth ring. “Hey Bobby.”

The tinny voice came over the other end of the line. “Hey, G-Force. I was thinking, uh, you wanna come hang out?”

Grayson sighed. “It’s 9:30, Bobby. I can’t go clubbing again tonight, and you shouldn’t either. You--”

Bobby cut him off before he went too far down the lecture route. “Nah, man. I don’t wanna go clubbing. I just wanna, y’know… talk.” The silence was deafening. “You still there, G-Man?”

“Yeah. Yeah, Bobby, I’m here.” He sighed in resignation and turned off the TV. “I’ll be over in 15.”

* * *

Grayson was surprised Bobby wasn’t on the deck when he got there. He knocked on the door to the cabin and opened it slowly. “You gonna come out and chat, Bobby? I brought root beer.” He shook the six-pack of non-alcoholic beverages gently in front of himself as an offering.

Bobby stood from the table, where he’d been writing in a little black notebook. “Hey, G-Love. I, uh, I… Do you wanna sit down?” he proffered the other seat at the little built-in table. Grayson walked in, suddenly a little cautious of the situation. The other man was uncomfortably serious. But he sat anyway, setting the bottles on the table. Bobby sat back down with him and picked up the notebook, read for a second, and opened his mouth like he was going to start speaking. He shook his head and set the book back down. “Look, buddy, I know we agreed that we’d be free and breezy about this. Forget all about it. All that.”

Grayson tensed up, ready to be told something awful. It felt bad, like a breakup. Was Bobby dumping him as a friend? “What are you trying to say, Bobby?”

The blond sighed, his shoulders dropping as if they had been holding up some kind of weight and he was just letting all roll off of him now. “I don’t wanna forget it.” He raised his eyes, the piercing blues locking with Grayson’s.

His heart rate picked up to a rapid staccato. The ball was in his court now. Time seemed to dilate. He knew he only had seconds to decide before Bobby rescinded the offer. His mind spun until he had the thought:  _ Don’t think, just speak _ . So that was what he did. “Me neither.”

Bobby’s megawatt grin immediately reappeared on his face. He stood up and pulled the other man up with him, drawing his face right into a passionate kiss. If you asked either of them, they’d have told you it lasted at least a minute. When they finally broke apart for a breath, their foreheads pressed together, Bobby breathed out, “That was fun. Wanna do it again?”


End file.
